Tag : News debrief

Here’s the weekly news debrief, with things to know from around the world for February 27.

Vancouver:

The City of Vancouver received a lot of backlash from its new redesigned logo that cost $8,000. The design community within the city created an open letter criticizing the simplistic font and design that fails to represent Vancouver’s culture and diversity. Many took to social media to show nearly identical concepts they created on Microsoft word in 10 minutes, which makes us wonder how that costs $8,000?

Canada:

Canada experienced a major spike in tourism over the past year. The tourism office reports that in 2016, 20-million international travellers visited our great land, which was 17 per cent increase from 2015, and the highest in 14 years. Many of these travellers were reported to be from US, which begs the question is President Trump accidentally making Canada great again?

US:

The Trump administration is moving to revoke federal guidelines that allow transgender students to use bathrooms of their chosen identity. Sean Spicer spoke on Wednesday that the previous Obama-era regulations were confusing and hard to implement and therefore need to be removed. News of the change sparked outrage in the transgender community due to the potential for discrimination they will face.

International:

The president of Iceland had some rather strong words towards pineapple pizza. When speaking to high school students, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson expressed that he was “fundamentally opposed” to pineapples on pizza. He went on to explain that if he could, he would ban the controversial pizza topping. Of course, many on Twitter took this to heart leaving scathing reactions to the president’s opinion. He had to since clarify that he will not be placing any bans on tropical pizza toppings.

Tech:

Now almond milk can be made from the comfort of your home in 30 seconds. The Almond Cow takes pre-soaked almonds and using a coffee grinder-like system can make almond milk within seconds. One half cup of almonds will reap 1.3 liters of delicious almond milk. Funded through Kickstarter, this successful campaign raised more than $100,000.

Science:

NASA announced a discovery that brings us closer to finding life on other planets. The nearby star called TRAPPIST-1 was uncovered along with seven Earth-like planets in its orbit. Due to their location, three of those planets were deemed hopeful candidates to host living organisms. It’s proximity to Earth is so close that it would take us about 20 days to make the journey. It’s very possible we’re going to see E.T. within our lifetimes.

Entertainment:

TV and Film actor Bill Paxton passed away last week at the age of 61. The cause of death was due to complications from surgery. Bill Paxton was accredited in major movies such as Apollo 13, Titanic and Aliens and was currently starring in the CBS drama Training Day that started on February 2nd. The network hasn’t commented on whether they will continue airing the season.

Here’s the weekly news debrief, with things to know from around the world for January 30th:

Vancouver:

The Chinese Lunar New Year Parade kicked off in downtown Vancouver to celebrate the year of the rooster. Some notable attendees included mayor Gregor Robertson and even our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who made a stop on his cross-country tour.

Canada:

Two men have been arrested in the heinous terrorist attack that claimed the lives of six people, injuring 14 in a Quebec City mosque last night. The motives are still unclear but it comes at a time during heightened tensions stemming from anti-Muslim groups that have been vocal around the city.

US:

After Donald Trump issued a nation-wide ban on Muslims entering the US, the streets filled with protests condemning his executive order. The countries listed are Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, which were deemed hot beds for Islamic extremism despite having no ties to terrorist attacks in the US. One thing is for sure; Donald Trumps divisive politics are actually bringing everyone together in solidarity.

International:

The Russian city of Rostov-on-Don experienced a strange phenomenon involving pillars of light emitting from the sky. People took to social media to show the beautiful display of nature, which turns out, was caused by light reflecting from crystals close to the ground.

Tech:

An innovative approach to reducing food waste sent to the landfill raised six times its goal on Indiegogo. The Zera Food Recycler serves as a collection bin for scraps, which turns it into nutrient rich fertilizer in just 24 hours with no smell. By placing a paper additive packet containing coconut husk fibers and baking soda in the machine, it chops them up with the waste and creates fertilizer. Science for the win!

Science:

A patient at Toronto General Hospital survived an incredible procedure that removed her lungs for six days. The dying mother had severely infected lungs that required immediate removal. The lungs were extracted and she was kept alive for six days until they could do a lung transplant. It’s believed to be first time this procedure has been performed.

Entertainment:

The 23rd annual SAG Awards kicked off this weekend. It wasn’t long before the Hollywood elite stepped up to voice their disdain towards the proposed Muslim ban issued by the president earlier in the week. Ashton Kutcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Emma Stone and Bryan Cranston were just a few that had some words of criticism.

Here’s the weekly news debrief, with things to know from around the world for January 16th:

Vancouver:

According to a new poll, Mayor Robertson has the lowest approval rating of ten major city mayors across the country. Sitting at only 50%, Robertson also proved to be the most polarizing, with the highest percentage of residents ‘strongly supporting’ and ‘strongly opposing’ him. It’s those bikes lines I tell ya.

Canada:

Our Prime Minister is in some hot water over his vacation plans during New Years. He’s being investigated by the ethics commissioner for potentially violating several conflict of interest statues for accepting flights and trips from the Aga Khan over the holiday. This makes Trudeau the first sitting Prime Minister to ever be investigated by the ethics department.

US:

So the day nearly upon us. On Friday, Donald J. Trump will be officially sworn in as the next President of the United States. Not that anyone will be around to see it; there’s no prominent music acts, no celebrities, and a growing number of absent politicians and senators. Where is everyone? They’ll all be at the Women’s March the next day. Unless you’re a fan of Three Doors Down….they’ll be performing at the inauguration, and then go back to performing at Chuck E. Cheese, where they’ve been the house band since 2002.

International:

As the British Prime Minister gets ready to reveal the plans for Brexit, the British Pound is at the lowest it has ever been in over 30 years. Theresa May will outline exactly how Britain will leave the EU on Tuesday, meanwhile Trump has called Brexit “a great thing” and slammed the EU as a “vehicle for Germany.” The Germans are not amused.

Tech:

Following a two-year investigation, Amazon has been fined $1M for misleading Canadian consumers with false pricing. It all came down to how they allowed sellers to list ‘suggested retail pricing’, which they have since changed. Not that a $1M fine means anything to a company that made $30B last year.

Science:

A group of researchers from Pennsylvania have discovered a way to regenerate skin cells, meaning they can completely eliminate scar tissue. The trick is apparently to encourage hair regrowth first, causing the body to increase fat cells around the wound and eliminating scar tissue.

Entertainment:

After 146 years, the Ringling Brothers are shutting down the Greatest Show on Earth. Declining ticket sales, competition and animal rights complaints have led the company to pull the curtain on the circus. To be fair, I can’t think of anyone that has gone to the circus in 20 years, so they may have a point.

Here’s a weird story to kick off the new year. Over one billion litres of water have been wasted at a construction site in West Vancouver when an aquifer was breached by an inexperienced drilling team, who then fled the country! It has taken 15 months for repairs to even get to this point, which apparently is incredibly complex, and water is still leaking. So far it’s cost the city nearly $3M.

Canada:

Now’s the time of year to watch out for potential scammers, with Canada Post warning Canadians that mail-forwarding fraud saw a big increase last year. Essentially scammers redirect your mail to new addresses, gathering information from bills and credit card statements. Although, how much mail are you actually getting these days? Scammers would just be getting my Domino’s pizza coupons and real estate junk mail.

US:

We are T-minus 17 days from the Trump Presidential inauguration (yes this is actually happening, you didn’t get to leave that behind in 2016, decisions have consequences so enjoy this one for the next four years). Morgan Stanley is cautioning a volatile stock market in the year ahead with uncertainty in many areas of the economy.

International:

Finland is one of the first countries to launch a universal basic income trial, giving more than 2,000 people a general monthly income of around $600 a month tax-free. UBI is being talked about as a potential globally, with programs in the Netherlands, Uganda and Canada rolling out this year as well.

Tech:

What’s one piece of technology that everyone hates? The printer. With all our complex advancements in tech, the printer has remained relatively unchanged, and hated, for years. Now a new printer has appeared offering inkless printing through the use of infrared beams and could totally revamp printing. You still may have to deal with paper jams though.

Science:

New research into the incubation period of dinosaur eggs may help understand why they went extinct. It is entirely possible that it took up to six months for dino eggs to hatch, putting them at a distinct disadvantage to faster breeding animals.This was a stroke of luck for us, imagine rush hour traffic with brontosaurus’ roaming around? Think about it.

Entertainment:

I honestly can’t think of a better way for 2016 to have ended than with the giant Mariah Carey bomb at Times Square. I really don’t care whose fault it was, watching Mariah crash and burn with style was the physical representation of the year.

Here’s the weekly news debrief, with things to know from around the world for December 12:

Vancouver:

Half of all Vancouver’s most expensive homes are secretly owned, meaning we have no idea whose fuelling the ultra-rich real estate market in the city. The NDP has called for more transparency, and to close the loophole on purchasing real estate through shell corporations.

Canada:

Syrian refugees celebrated one year officially coming to Canada over the weekend. Over 36,000 have been welcomed into Canada, and while it’s a good news story, the flip side is many are struggling to find work and their funding support was only meant to last a year.

US:

The CIA has “confidently” confirmed that Russia was involved in hacking to improve Trump’s odds at winning the Presidency. In an unprecedented move, but typical to Trump, he calls it nonsense, being the first incoming President to seriously undermine the CIA. At this point, Trump is going to convince the entire US population he is the only trustworthy person in America.

International:

The IOC has released a scathing report claiming Russia helped over 1,000 athletes tamper with doping tests in two Olympic games. And this apparently goes right to the Kremlin. It’s actually kinda crazy, the tests found male DNA in female athlete urine samples, so either Russia was cheating, or they’ve been secretly inserting men into the women’s games.

Tech:

Bill Gates, along with Alibaba head Jack Ma and other billionaires are launching a $1 Billion dollar fund to combat climate change. The fund is expected to run for 20 years and will help companies at all stages develop reliable and affordable clean tech. Looks like having a climate-change denying President may drive others to do it for him, that’s a small silver lining.

Science:

A very promising vaccine for HIV has been approved for Phase II trials, meaning it will be tested on HIV-negative patients to test the reliability of the drug. This is the biggest step medicine has taken to date in finding a vaccine for HIV and has already proven to be extremely effective in Phase I.

Entertainment:

Some guy who was fraudulently using his company credit card to buy things like cars and seasons tickets spent $1 Million dollars on the mobile game Game of War. One Million dollars on a mobile app!!